Tuesday, 30 December 2014

As regular readers of my journal know, last year I had the idea of making "Moments" to put in a real Jane's Journal which I bought last summer. Here is a link to the first one I made .I have made several since and when the family all went home on Sunday I decided that I would take the time to create something to remember our wonderful family Christmas.

When I think about Christmas this year I have many memories. ..decorating the tree and the house, receiving cards, being together with my family, giving and receiving wonderful gifts, Christmas dinner with all the trimmings around the table with my home made crackers, lots of chocolate, laughter, cold bright sunny days and even the return of the Christmas milk bottle foils. On Sunday we decided to go out for a walk with our daughter, SIL and Daisy before lunch. It was a beautiful sunny morning but it was freezing cold.

We all wrapped up warmly and Daisy was snug in her pushchair.

We stopped at the swings until the cold wind got the better of us.

Before walking back my daughter and SIL's wanted to pick up a drink from our local Costa.

They love the Christmas cups brought out each year and thought it might be the last day they would be available this season. Hot chocolate and coffees were duly bought to take away in the festive cups.

We then walked home and had a lovely final lunch before they headed back to Southampton. Of course chocolates featured at the end of lunch and we opened the Bendick's mints.

The house was very quiet after they had left so I decided to make something for some current challenges which are running. The empty Costa cups were sitting on the side ready to be thrown away and they really made me smile...and gave me a light bulb moment...I could include them in my Moment! When I was a little girl I would stick all sorts of things into my scrapbooks; tickets etc and realised that I could include other Christmas ephemera as they bring back so much nostalgia when you look them. I also love vintage images which I wanted to include.....and I noticed that one of the fronts from my hand made crackers had been pulled off and left on the sideboard. I think my son thought it was too sweet to throw away. I was about to throw it away when I had another idea...it could be part of my Moment too.

I looked around to see what other pieces of Christmas ephemera were hanging around the house. This is some of what I found. The Costa cups, festive milk bottle foils, wrappers from Bendick's mints and Ferrero Rocher chocs.

Also the ribbon from my Lindt chocolate Santa

I also had not yet used the great Tim Holtz pack of Christmas ephemera I bought before Christmas so I dug that out too.

Armed with these supplies I had a think about my inky background I would create.

For my colour theme I decided to use the brown, red and yellow inspired by the festive Costa cups.

First I sprayed some yellow Dylusions ink onto some dampened water colour paper and then using Tea Dye Distress Stain I added some stencilling. I wanted a water colour appearance. The clocks are to represent the wonderful time we shared as a family. I also added TH festive words stencilling using red distress ink.

My Moment was also a reminder of how lucky I am to have my family. I added some partial stamping with Gathered twigs and Festive Berries distress inks using the grunge Thank You LOTV sentiment stamp.

To add to the watercolour effect I then gave the backing a spritz of water, you will see this in the next photo.

Then it was time for me to start to add my elements. First was a piece of the TH ephemera, it was very relevant as Daisy did receive lots of toys from Santa. I die cut some Cheery Lynn Holly borders using the Costa cups and stuck them in 2 of the corners.

I thought the colours worked really well and the die cuts almost become part of the backing card.

So then it was then time to put on my creative hat and take time to play around placing the elements.

Here is my finished Moment........

Here are some close ups and the thoughts behind them. Below is the discarded image from my handmade crackers, a perfect nostalgic image and a memory from the laughter around our table during Christmas dinner. The jokes always make us groan. I added some Cheery Lynn die cut holly leaves using the Costa cups and added some red Stickles glitter berries. You can see the mint wrapper and the Christmas milk bottle foil from my milk bottle here too. I have also used a great TH milk top I found in the packet of TH ephemera and a little ice ticket..it was certainly a chilly Christmas.

I die cut a TH Sizzix bell and coloured it with Festive berries DI and Bronze DP. This represents ringing out the old year and looking forward to the new one. You can see a close up of some of the holly leaves using the Costa cups. The bow is from my Lindt chocolate Father Christmas and I have even added the sticker and gold foil from my Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

Here are my Cheery Lynn Holly die cut corners in close up with some green Stickles berries

I love this vintage TH piece, memories of my 1960s childhood. I do think every Christmas is wrapped up with Christmas past too.

So I have a little piece of our family Christmas 2014 all captured in my Moment to be stuck in my Journal made from things we usually just throw away. Every time I look at it I can be transported back to lots of Christmas memories from this year.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing how it came to life.

Here it is once more

I would like to enter my Moment in the following challenges;

A Vintage Journey ring out the old ring in new. I have taken the first line of the poem for my inspiration and inlcuded a bell in my Moment. I have used many of Tim's wonderful techniques as described in my process above. I know he is a Starbuck's fan but I think even he would laugh to see the Costa cups included in my project!

I will be back first thing on New Year's day with my exciting GD post for Frilly and Funkie.......if you get a chance I would love to see you here. If not I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2015. Thanks for all your support over here at Jane's Journal and for all the comments you take the time to leave. I really appreciate them.

Monday, 29 December 2014

The lovely Debby over at a scrapjourney is hosting her annual 5 favourite Christmas cards challenge again. Thanks Debby...do pop on over to her blog and join in. She is even offering some lovely candy as a prize.

I made 29 Christmas cards this year..not bad, but I still had to buy some shop ones as I never have enough to send everyone a handmade card. Perhaps I should start earlier next year???

These are the 5 I chose. I wonder if your favourite is amongst them? They are in no particular order

Number 1, my week 7 Funkie Junkie entry...(oh just to let you all know I am delighted that I came out the hat for 2nd prize...I won $25, so more lovely crafty goodies to buy in the new year ,thanks Linda)

Number 2 made for my Daughter and SIL, the snowman is such a hit in our family.

Number 3, another Funkie Junkie entry, this was week 8

Number 4, one of my favourite Lili of the Valley Christmas stamps
Number 5, my December Tim Holtz creation
Now Debby said we could choose 6 and the one below has to be one of my favourite things I have ever made...it was such a labour of love but worth it and my son loved it. If you want to see how I made it this is the link
So number 6 is my Christmas card book box made for my son as his special Christmas card.

So there we are, thanks again Debby for hosting this and she is also going to run her favourite 5 cards soon.

Meanwhile below is my card challenge card for this post and it is the very last Christmas card I will share with you from 2014. It's another of my last minute makes. Do you remember the card which I showed here? As I said I was able to get a 2nd generation stamped image from that stamp and I have used it below to made a very CAS card

I had some crafty time yesterday after the family all went back home and I made a Moment of our Christmas. I will try to get it photographed in the next day or so. I also have a GD post coming up on New Year's day for Frilly and Funkie. I have something very different to show you. I hope you are getting some crafty time over the holidays? Enjoy.

Sunday, 28 December 2014

Hello everyone and I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and enjoyed some special time with your loved ones. We certainly did, Christmas lived up to all the anticipation and was such a special family time. I wanted to share a couple of photos of the big day. My handmade crackers looked great on the table. Here it is set up and waiting for everyone to arrive.

Daisy was such a good girl that Santa came and left a stack of presents....

and my 2 "babies" (of 25 and 28) had obviously been good as Santa filled their sacks and stockings too and did not knock over my shadow box as he came down the chimney.

We did laugh at the crackers jokes as we sat around the dinner table and in the evening when we played charades our laughter got so loud that we almost woke up Daisy...oops!

Daisy's Mummy and Daddy bought her a fabulous shopping trolley which means she can now carry things around when she is trying to walk. I did try to take a photo but she just kept racing with it and they are all blurred. This really sums her up and makes me smile.....talk about a trolley dash

I think I must have been a good girl to as not only did I get some gorgeous clothes, crafting goodies and other wonderful gifts but this was in my stocking from my darling Hb.

When I opened the box I found my very own fairy godmother charm

She's very hard to photograph but here she is

and the thing which may me blub like a kid was the wonderful inscription on the back...

Oh M she is just perfect, thank you so much.

I hope Santa was good to you all too ;0)
My card today is something that is inspired by my magical charm

I blended my Distress inks to make the background. I stamped using picket fence distress stain on a flower stamp and finally some archival ink to add some daisies to create lots of layers. I also distressed the edge and added some walnut stain distress ink. The sentiment is Lili of the Valley which I added embossing glitter to. The die cuts are all Cheery Lynn.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

We have finally arrived at Christmas Eve, one of the most magical times of the year for me. I have finished work and I am home with a cup of tea and one of my handmade mince pices
The list is ticked off...

I am also thrilled to see that my hyacinth has decided to bloom in time for Christmas day

My Nan used to bring me a planted bulb over every Christmas day and I smile and think of her when I see my first hyacinth in flower. My Mum bought me this one when we recently visited a garden centre. I also adore the scent, it reminds me of Christmas past.

My last Christmas creation of the year is something very special I made at a workshop taught by my talented friend Brenda of Bumblebees and butterflies. I did not have time to finish it in November but I finally had a chance. It is a Christmas shadow box and it has pride of place in my fireplace.

We altered the frame using tissue tape, paints and stamping to give it a shabby chic distressed appearance. The backing was made with lots of layers, gesso and paints which made a gorgeous snowy sky

We added stamping and snow to some Tim Holtz die cuts and stood them in glittery snow which we made and spread on. I added some vellum to the lamppost to look as though it is lit.

This happy snowman stands in the centre

and there are even snow dusted trees we decorated.

I just love my shadow box and I am not sure that I will be putting it away after Christmas.

Here it is again

Let's hope Father Christmas doesn't knock it over on is way down the chimney tonight.

Mixed Media tic tac toe my line is the top; tape, glitter stamp. I used tissue tape on the frame, glitter on the snowflakes and snow and the snowman and pine trees are Tim Holtz stamps to make my tic, tac toe

So there we are, this is my grande finale of all my Christmas crafting. I have so enjoyed sharing my creations with you this year and I want to thank you so much for all the encouraging comments you have taken to leave here. I loved reading every single one of them.

Our sweet Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy will be en route soon. Our darling son will be here this evening and we will start our celebrations. We have our children and my Mum and Dad here Christmas day. We will enjoy our roast turkey with all the trimmings (it's the only roast I cook all year now). We will pull the crackers and laugh at the silly jokes, play cards and enjoy being together, precious family time.

All is calm here and I would like to leave you with one my favourite Christmas sentiments;

Christmas - that
magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it
is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas
may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of
remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.
~Augusta E. Rundel

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by Nativity crib scenes at Christmas. Even at the Winchester Christmas Fair a few weeks ago we saw one where children could dress up and be part of the scene. Since our early married days my Hb and I had a little set of plastic nativity figures we brought out at Christmas. Some years ago we bought a "stable" to display them in. Last year I "upgraded" and found a sweet wooden one, on 2 levels, more a barn!

Again over the years we have "upgraded" our plastic figures and bought beautiful carved wooden ones from the German Christmas markets in Cologne, Frankfurt and Nuremberg.

Our Nativity crib sits on the archway between the hall and our dining room and I love to look at it from where I use the computer and also when we sit and eat at the table.

It's a tradition every year that my Dad cuts me some holly and greenery from his garden and I add it to my nativity scene.

Here are the steps where I placed my goats and chick. The sack, hay fork and rusted bucket were also bought at the German markets.

As you know I adore pigs, so of course I have to feature them in my little scene...I have male and female wild boar with a stripey piglet who stands with the shepherds. The shepherd at the back is one of my original plastic models.

I do not yet own any wooden kings. If we get back to a German market in the next few years these are what I will buy. I make do with my originals, which look fine. However we never had a camel in that set so for years I have put my childhood "walk down an incline" camel there. This really makes us laugh each year, He must be 45 odd years old and still "walks" if you put him on an incline.
Say hello to Humphrey...

I bet he made you smile ;0)

I think even if we eventually get a wooden camel, Humphrey will still have to stand on the arch. He is part of our Christmas and when Daisy gets bigger she can have fun "walking" him down an incline.

My card today is my last Christmas card of 2014 and features another festive creature, the dear Robin. I have used a sweet Nicecrane image which is available here. This vintage bird set has some great images and I made up some great last minute cards with them.

The holly die cut is Cheery Lynn and the sentiment is LOTV. The papers are ancient from my stash.

Tomorrow is my final posting for my countdown to Christmas as yes we will have reached Christmas Eve.I have a really special project to share with you so if you get a chance do pop back and take a peep.

108 High St, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 3AE Gorgeous painting is by in house artist Karen Baker

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About Me

Welcome to Jane's Journal. Having worked for the NHS as a physiotherapist for 34 years I now follow a crafting life selling my handmade cards in Dotty's, a local vintage tea room. My passions are as a papercrafter, silversmith, jewellery maker, and occasional cake decorator. I am a Design Team Member for Country View Crafts, Visible Image and STAMPlorations. I enjoy occasional Guest Designing for other stamp companies/card challenges. My work has been published and appeared on TV. I am also a keen photographer and gardener.
I am the wife of a very dear husband and have 2 wonderful grown up children (but always my babies to me). Our lives have been blessed by the arrival of our 2 darling grandchildren; Daisy Jane, in 2013 and Jack in 2017. We also have a very special cat called Billy who shares our home.
My blog is written to share my hobbies, crafts and gardening and to create a journal I can look back on. Thanks for visiting me here and watching my creative journey.
Please don't be shy - do leave a comment and say hello, it's great to realise that I'm not rambling to myself but even if you don't wish to just pull up a chair, make yourself comfy and have a read.
Jane x